Need Advice. Navigating Fire Island Inlet and Great South Bay in a 323.

[The Great Godsea]

So, i need advice on getting out of Fire Island and the great south bay back to open water.
We are docked in Seaview marina and will be until Friday when the weather should be calm enough to sail out (very rough seas and winds on sunday night/monday and predicted for tues/wed/thurs).
We Sailed from Jersey City to Seaview marina on fire Island at 4am on Sunday, July 6.
A great trip the entire way until we got to Fire Island Inlet.
We navigated successfully through, under the Robert Moses bridge and into the bay, when it got VERY INTERESTING.
We used our gps and the through hull depth sounder to try and stay in the "channel" but found that the map depths were WAY off from the reality and even though we were between buoys we kept getting very shallow readings.  suffice it to say we struggled mightily for 2 hours trying to avoid sandbars and shoals.
Somehow, we got through and finally nosed in  at 1:30 in the afternoon.
We were told that we arrived at an historic low tide... our keel sticking in the mud as we finally tied into our slip.
(Two important pieces of info...
A. Fire island has NO fuel docks.. NONE. the only way to get fuel apparently is to cross the entire, shallows filled and poorly marked bay over to Bayview. greaaat.
B. Seaview marina has NO restrooms or showers. you have to walk to the beach or find a restaurant... all for only $165 a night weekdays... its significantly dearer on weekends.
most marinas on the island have similar limitations there so you need to have your self well provisioned. )
SO, if you have any advice about the updated ACTUAL channels or where i could access good current maps of them, i'd be most appreciative. i'm already reaching out to the fire island coast guard station.

some lessons learned through this experience.
-be sure to arrive (and leave) at high tide for extra wiggle room through these really randomly shallow areas.
-do not attempt this at night. you really need daylight to verify where you actually are.
-maybe try and follow the biggest deep keeled fishing boat or ferry boat if you get the chance.
-verify all the facilities at the marina you intend to visit to be sure you don't get surprised.
-be sure your fuel tank is topped off as much as possible and bring extra filled fuel containers with you.

Thanks in advance for any information the community can share. it was really dicey going in and i want to avoid trouble going home.

[Sea Haven]

Godsea,
Just saw this......please tell me you're out of the Great South Mudpit!
So sorry for the late response as I know these waters all too well. Great for my previous boat, a MacGregor 26X-swing keel, bad for fixed keel boats, as you probably know already.
I was a member of USCGA Flotilla 1/7 out of Sayville and often visited Station Fire Island. That inlet is a royal PITA these past 4 years with IRENE and SANDY. Shoals shifted constantly. Forget Chart 12352 and follow the Commercial boats like you mentioned, the bigger the better.
Again let me know your status, message or via email. I check eBoat Cards daily by 0830. I can get my Aux buddies to assist.
If you are out, don't let that over sized parking lot puddle prevent you from coming east, just make it north east  and into the Sound unless you decide to non-stop past Montauk and rest between the Forks.
The offer is still open to raft up and share my mooring in Mt Sinai when you go via the Sound.


"Sub" Ed

[The Great Godsea]

Thanks Ed. we were in fact right in the middle of that giant mud bottomed childrens splash pool called the great south bay.
We did alright by day light. but trying to maneuver around with a draft at night proved to be DAUNTING.
We let her sit at the marina there all last week until friday when the winds and waves calmed enough to be survivable. 

the 9 hour sail back was fairly uneventful... just very light winds.
All Hail my old Volvo Penta... kept us at 6 knots average for most of the trip home.
So, in hindsight... a great adventure. learned SO MUCH about how to sail her. and i know i'll be smarter about better planning going forward...

BY THE WAY.. i saw a nice red Pearson in the marina at Bay Shore. looked very shiny! dont know who that was, but it looked great.

[Sea Haven]

Awesome!

There are some nice spots there, my favorite being Sailors Haven, and further east Watch Hill. I kept my Mac in Patchogue.
As you know one never lacks for wind there, but the relatively shallow bottom (12 ft Avg) makes for some chop. Which in turn makes it difficult  so see the water color change when you shoal to 1 ft!!
That's why my Garmin 188 was mounted on the grab rail!! Tending to watch it more then the sails!!

Glad you had fun. Beth and I are still learning to sail her as well. I am very impressed by how comfortable she sails. While the Island blocks those prevailing South Westerlies you experienced, we did a fine sail in 15-20kts close hauled. She was over to 35 deg and I didn't realize it! Same wind on a beam and we held at 10! VERY comfortable. Look, I'm not young anymore so I'll take comfort over nail biting speed any day!!

"Sub" Ed

BTW, this is me lost in the channel at "Watch Hill", note the expression along with the Garmin! lol
7' Charted depth IN the Channel, 1-2' OUTSIDE the channel!
It was a VERY foggy Fathers day!!

[The Great Godsea]

Ed i can't open the attachment but i can certainly relate to that 7' chart v 1' reality... happened over and over again to us.

[Sea Haven]

Interesting about the link......

Wonder if it's a permission issue? Anyone else can't see it?

BTW, the nice thing about the bay....the black mud you undoubtedly discovered at the end of your anchor. Worse thing is a sticky grounding. But mind the coolant flow!
Up on the north shore one kisses granite!

[Dolce_Vita]

I can see it fine.

I assume that the "two types of ships" mentioned on your t-shirt are submarines and targets!

[Sea Haven]

Why yes, yes it does!! 

Former "Boomer" Sailor from the Cold War (The "good" years!)